Improve your productivity by optimising your focus

All of us had moments when we were trying to convince ourselves into thinking that we are not as productive as we should have been. This could be caused by comparing yourself to other people or simply because for one reason or another you called off the rails of productivity track.

Regardless of what is the actual cause, we might hit the panic button and frantically embrace new systems and the processes. However when analysing probably the root of the issue, you can find out that it is much simpler and that you simply lack focus.

By improving your focus, you will end up improving your productivity. There is always a link between attention and excellence. With that being said, if you are struggling to focus, there are proven ways to improve it, once you do it, you will definitely improve your productivity.

To start, try to get 1% better. It might not sound like much, but it will make a tremendous difference when it comes to developing solid habits for yourself. At the end of the day your habits are basically the compound interest of self improvement.

When committing to change, 1% at the given time, this is more manageable than setting lofty and completely unrealistic goals. A small change also will add up over the time and it will make much easier to make 2% or 5% change in the future, Eventually, all of your habits are worked into your daily lifestyle and you start to get the results you always wanted to achieve.

To get yourself started, just focus on the following important habits:

• wake up hour earlier each day by setting up your alarm 15 minutes earlier each day/or week until you reach this goal. 15 minutes may not feel like a real world sacrifice so you will be able to cheat your body system into improving your timing.
• It is proven that physical activity will increase your energy and focus. If you combine that knowledge with 30 minutes of any type of exercise into your schedule each day, you wouldn’t be feeling any more tired but doing that consistently you will have much greater gains. You can do it by simply taking a walk or bike ride as spending time in nature has been found to improve concentration as well as productivity.
• Try to limit the screen time, ideally remove the phone or tablet from your night patterns, the blue light will trick your brain to think, it is still a day, you will have a worse time failing asleep and you will feel tired the next day. If you really must have some presence of electronic devices, try either listen to audiobooks or read from Kindle tablets which do not use any blue lighting.
• Name one of the primary focuses per day and polish it. You may want to chose one thing in each area of your life, continue working on it until you improve it to the perfection. Then be consistent applying it into your life once it is fully installed (usually takes 2 weeks to 2 months, depend on how stubborn of a person you actually are)

Focus on today and live in the moment. It will be a mental challenge to stay focused when you are constantly thinking about events of a past or worrying about the future. Try to focus on what is happening now as this is what you have a control of. Put away all the distractions, if you are struggling with this, I would recommend meditation as it will help you to teach your brain to isolate from outside world and with that you will improve your wellbeing greatly.

It isn’t something you will accomplish overnight, it will require some practise. Just remember that you cannot change past but certainly you can learn from it! Future on other hand have not happened yet and best you can do is being prepared for it to best of your abilities.

As a final tip – concentrate on what you can do and not on what you cannot! You will need to focus 90% of your time on solutions and only 10% of your time on the problems. Overall we always make executes to let distractions sneak in. If there are roadworks happening near your home or office, it is noisy to concentrate, right? This could as well be true but you could solve the problem by using a bit of right tech – like noise cancellation headphones or you could simply go to the more quiet location.

If you are stuck on difficult task, then break them down into smaller pieces and just get started by tackling the smallest ones first and you will create a snowball effect.

Do you know any other ideas which can increase your focus or productivity? Feel free to let me know in the comments section below.

All the best,
Lucas